Ford Focus ST vs 2015 Volkswagen GTI - Hatching A Revolt (Part 1)

Here’s a radical idea: these zealous hatchbacks are all the car you’ll need.

At roadside cafeterias in France, next to the napkins, cutlery, and plastic trays, are baskets of free dinner rolls. Hungry? Take as much as you want; bread is as free as air. We have to assume that this is a legacy of the French Revolution. No need to steal, Jean Valjean. The struggle is over. Everyone is equal and no one will go hungry. Put away the guillotine.

Ford Focus ST vs 2015 Volkswagen GTI

Parked outside the cafeteria is a 2015 Volkswagen GTI, the seventh generation of the hatchback that brought a taste of speed, in a dinner-roll-shaped package, to the common man. It’s not free bread, but it does represent a revolution. The super Golf was and remains the great egalitarian performance car, the first to so effectively combine power, economy, handling, practicality, and price. And, like all breakthrough ideas, it spawned imitators, all promising the same mix of virtues.

Volkswagen has bot slacked off for its seventh GTI

Volkswagen has bot slacked off for its seventh GTI. A new platform called MQB is both lighter and stronger than before. At a glance, it does look a lot like its predecessor, but the metal is more tightly folded and the roof is lower. Longer in wheelbase and overall length by 2.1 inches, the GTI is within an inch in other dimensions. There’s more space inside, and the interior décor, while familiar, is also completely updated.

Power comes from the third generation of Volkswagen’s direct-injected, 2.0-liter turbo EA88 engine. Base versions bound for the U.S. will likely come with 210 horsepower (10 more than before) and 258 pound-feet of torque (51 more than before). With the addition of variable lift on the exhaust valves, the new engine is now similar in spec to the version Audi has been using in the A4 for several years. We’ll also get the optional Performance package that increases horsepower by another 10 ponies and adds an electronically controlled torque-vectoring differential, but not until late 2014. We drove a European Performance-package car alongside this test’s GTI and can report that no matter how imprudent you are with the acceleration, the differential holds the cornering line as if the car were tethered by an invisible string. But we opted for the standard Euro-spec car for this comparison because the wait for a GTI in the States is already long enough, and the conventional differential works quite well.

The 247-hp (Euro-spec) ST may be a GTU imitator, but it acts as if it’s running the Monte Carlo rally

Parked next to the GTI is a Tangerine Scream Ford Focus ST. A staff favorite and 10Best winner, the 247-hp (Euro-spec) ST may be a GTU imitator, but it acts as if it’s running the Monte Carlo rally. It’s prepped to compete, too – no hatchback since the Lancia Delta Integrale has looked more ready for sponsorship decals. But the ST is not in France to run a timed stage. The St is here because it was the only car able to vanquish the last GTI in our testing. So we filled our coat pockets with free bread and drove off to figure out which democratized performance ideology we’d prefer to follow.

2.    Ford Focus ST

Here’s something no one ever tells you: No matter how old you are, you’re going to mentally feel like you’re 19 forever. You won’t necessarily act 19, but in your head you’re still pretty much 19. And your inner teenager is smitten with the Ford Focus ST. The ST acts like it subsists on a diet of Mountain Dew Code Red and Totino’s Pizza Rolls. It is a bad decision machine. It is, in a word, immature.

The ST acts like it subsists on a diet of Mountain Dew Code Red and Totino’s Pizza Rolls

We mention the Ford’s youthful exuberance not to condemn it, but to define it. Quick steering (1.8 turns lock-to-lock) requires the reflexes of adolescence. Stomp the throttle, and the steering wheel yanks itself away from your hands, the wide 235/40R-18 tires struggling against the stampede of 247 horses that arrive during the temporary over boost.

Keep it pointed straight, and the ST will clip off a zero-to-60 time of 5.7 seconds and do a quarter-mile in 14.4 seconds at 99 mph. This European ST proved consistently quicker than the last ST we tested. We’re not really sure why; it could have been the high-octane European fuel, a particularly strong engine, a thoroughly broken-in example, or all of the above.

The ST’s seats squeeze more tightly than the jeans of a Williamsburg hipster

A wall of noise accompanies any throttle application. Ford’s sound symposer pumps 85 decibels of 2.0-liter turbo party right into your ear at full throttle. The engine noise is inescapable. If cars could speak, we’re pretty sure the ST would say “dude” a lot. In addition to being loud, the ST is restless, and it never stops fidgeting. Stiff shock tuning transmits every subtlety of the road to the driver. The front-end grip is strong, even it tight corners, to the extent that you’ll usually find the rear tires sliding before the fronts break loose. Rain kept us from performing skid-pad and slalom times – in our last test the ST clung with 0.93 g of grip.

The party never stops, but the ST itself can stop from 70 mph in 168 feet, which allows the ST to feign sobriety whenever an authority figure appears. The fact is that the ST is on perpetual spring break, forever trying to hoist you upside down to do a keg stand. Good times. But something you just want to sip your beer out of a pint glass, like an adult.

A set of perfectly formed Recaros is basically the only concession to comfort. Like all Foci, the interior looks as if an F-117 stealth aircraft exploded inside. Angular bits jut out at the driver, and the front seat ends up feeling more cramped than the GTI’s. Material quality is good, but not quite the luxury-car-grade stuff in the VW.

We love that the ST exists. It’s like looking at an old yearbook picture of yourself. But while we sometimes like to think we’re 9 again, we’re actually not. Next to the GTI, the ST’s joys are fleeting. Ford has built in fountain of youth, but the effects are temporary.